The Moto G6 Plus is dead on arrival in India — here are three phones you should buy instead

Even until the start of last year, Motorola was the brand to beat in the budget segment in India. Earlier models in the Moto G series offered decent performance coupled with a clean software experience and quick updates, but Motorola squandered its footing in the country with a series of ill-timed decisions. The most egregious of these included flooding the market with sub-par phones and abandoning software updates for entry-level phones — a few devices like the Moto E4 Plus didn't receive a single platform update.

The Moto G6 Plus will go on sale in India for ₹22,499 ($310). For that price, you get a device with a 5.9-inch 18:9 panel backed by Gorilla Glass 3, Snapdragon 630, 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, dual 12MP + 5MP cameras at the back, 8MP front shooter, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 3200mAh battery. To put things into context, the 6GB/64GB variant of the Redmi Note 5 Pro retails for ₹16,999 ($235), and that particular device is powered by the beefier Snapdragon 636.

If you're still not convinced, then we have the POCO F1. The phone features a Snapdragon 845, 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM, 64GB of UFS 2.1 flash storage, and a massive 4000mAh battery, and it costs just ₹20,999 ($290).

Motorola's current woes in India are of its own making; the brand was cognizant of the prevalent conditions in the budget segment and continued to ignore them. The company was never one to offer beefy specs, but it differentiated itself by providing value on the software front. It lost that edge last year when it failed to deliver timely security and platform updates, and the launch of the Moto G6 Plus does nothing to sway consumers looking to pick up the Nokia 6.1 Plus, Mi A2, or the POCO F1.

If you're in the market for a phone in the ₹20,000 segment, you're better off spending it on the POCO F1.